The Moonlighting Student

Motivation and influence in the blogosphere

March 18th, 2008 11:03 pm —  98 views

blog_research1.jpg

I’ve been pounding away on the keyboard tonight, trying to organize my thoughts. I’m working on a project that is researching an information system that relates to behavioral psychology. Big surprise that I chose the vast domain of blogging, eh?

The whole idea of blogging and why people blog is very interesting. One article from the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication1 suggests that “rather than promoting isolation, computer-mediated communication tools such as blogs often function to enhance existing relationships.” While I’m not entirely sure this pertains to blogging across the board, there is certainly some truth to that statement.

Shucks howdy, I said the word “truth” again. You know how that gets me all worked up. I could easily go into what it means for something to be true, but I won’t. You need to see it for yourself. But consider that for something to be “true” it has to be obvious or readily verifiable to the person considering the validity of that truth. In this case, that would be me. Or you. Or one of us at least.

But I digress. I’ve spent the better part of the last hour going over journal articles about blogging, motivation, influence, and the psychological aspects related to blogging … yet have not been inspired by the “muse.” This project requires that we (my group) produce a report totaling no more than 5 pages. These 5 pages need to be focused and concise, but therein lies the challenge.

The thing is, if you asked me to tell you about my experience blogging over the last year-and-a-half, I could go on for a long time talking about how my approach has changed based on reader input and my own education and how I’ve found various ways to observe user behavior2. Is this enough though? Is personal experience sufficient for an academic paper that seeks to analyze behavior and principles of social interaction. I would say, without hesitation, yes! But why then am I struggling to find my voice?

Oh.

I must be tired. Damn. Being a moonlighting student has its price.

Image: Yet again, my desk is covered with research articles that I’m pouring through, looking for insights, quotes, and motivation. I have to admit, the research articles my group has found are very interesting and have yet to contradict the ideas I have about blogging in general. Shix…another late night and I can’t help but feel there isn’t much to show for it. Here I am again, blogging with one eye.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
  1. Titled, “Writing for Friends and Family: The interpersonal Nature of Blogs” [↩]
  2. I hope to present some of this to my class next week when we consider the subject of witnessing user behavior and I have to present an information system that is an example of such witnessing. I’m hoping to blow some minds. Google analytics, Awstats, Statspress…such fun! [↩]

Related Posts

Comment 

Comments

Leave a Reply




Subscribe without commenting